1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to manual shelf management systems, and more specifically to a space saving, manual, modular, containing and laterally supporting, shelf management system.
2. Background Information
In stores, for example grocery stores, that display products for sale on shelves it is necessary to continually replenish products on the shelves so that a constant supply of product is maintained for sale to customers. This replenishment process is called stocking or restocking. Further, it is necessary to continually move the products to the front of the shelf so that customers can more readily see and select those items that they desire in a process called “facing” or “fronting.” It is also essential that the products be arranged laterally (side-to-side) as closely as possible to conserve limited and valuable lateral shelf space and thereby maximize the products that can be properly displayed and sold.
If products are hidden at the rear of the shelf or if an insufficient depth of the shelf is utilized and the product is thereby more readily exhausted, or if the products are in disarray, potential product sales are lost. Stocking new products on store shelves historically requires significant time and effort. Products must be individually positioned on the shelves in straight rows, and sometimes products are stacked one on top of the other adding to the difficulty for the worker. Stocking becomes a taxing exercise in finesse and physical exertion, especially when stocking low or high shelves. The process of “rotation”, where older items are brought to the front of the shelf and newer items placed in the rear, historically has required that every item in a product row be individually handled and repositioned when that row is stocked.
Products are occasionally moved to a different location of the store altogether, called “resetting” of the products. Ordinarily all of these so-called “shelf conditioning” tasks described above require the handling of each individual product (e.g. each soup can). This piece-by-piece handling of products is time-consuming, imprecise, creates fatigue for store personnel and impedes the proper completion of some shelf conditioning tasks.
Labor inefficiencies and other problems occur when merchandise is displayed on retail shelves with neither rigid dividers nor an efficient way to bring product forward on the shelf into selling position without handling the merchandise piece-by-piece. These problems pertain to grocery stores and other retail stores where consumer packaged goods, such as food products, spray paint cans and health and beauty care products, are displayed on shelves. With no rigid dividers store personnel must, during product stocking, form rows by reckoning and finesse which is imprecise and time consuming. Further, as new merchandise is fed into rows, packages in the middle of the row tend to move to the left or right (known as “snaking”) causing packages in the middle or back of the row to be significantly out of alignment with those packages at the front. This also results in wasted labor as store personnel must handle the merchandise multiple extra times to position products in proper row alignment. Another result is shelf disorganization that degrades the shopping experience by making it difficult for shoppers to locate and reach/grasp merchandise.
Merchandise always is selected by the consumer from the front of the shelf and store personnel are constantly fronting products. The vast majority of store shelves are fronted using the legacy practice of grasping individual packages. This practice is time consuming and can be counter-productive because, as the store clerk reaches with his hand into the shelf to grasp packages; adjacent merchandise is sometimes knocked out of position which requires the clerk to then re-position that disrupted merchandise before the fronting procedure is completed. Further, the piece-by-piece fronting method is ineffective as typically only one or two items may be easily brought forward into selling position leaving merchandise at the middle and rear of the shelf out of shopper view and inaccessible.
The prior art has addressed some of these issues relating to shelf management and developed relatively complex shelf management machines to advance rows of products on a shelf. These shelf management devices are generally complex with multiple parts, are expensive, and involve a complicated installation. Further, some of these prior art devices occupy an objectionable amount of lateral shelf space and thereby do not maximize the amount of lateral shelf space available for display.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,703,987; 2,652,154; 4,300,693; 4,830,201; 5,123,546; 5,542,552; 5,634,564; 6,357,606; 7,086,541 and 7,168,579 disclose complex mechanisms for advancing product rows which, in general, provide a spring-biased backstop which constantly and automatically forces the products from the rear toward the front of the shelf. While these so-called “spring-loaded” devices are generally effective for managing light-weight merchandise (e.g. packages of panty hose) they are generally not effective when used for heavier items (e.g. jars of pasta sauce). They are also complex with combined plastic and metal construction and are relatively costly. Additionally, the constantly biased backstop can increase the difficulty of restocking the shelves, as in all of these arrangements the spring-biased backstop must be pushed back with one hand while the new products are positioned on the shelf. Further, the springs can lose their tension over time rendering the system less effective or ineffective.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,160,051, 6,082,556 and 7,854,333 disclose shelf management systems that utilize an inclined shelf where products are urged to the front of the shelf by force of gravity. These so-called “gravity fed” systems will not operate with existing flat shelves; rather, the existing shelving is removed and new inclined shelves are installed. A time-consuming and costly installation process is required that involves wholesale removal of existing store shelving and installation of new shelving.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,991,116 discloses a “gravity fed” shelf management system that installs on existing flat supermarket shelving. While effective in merchandising cans, this system is less effective for jars (due to breakage concerns) and will not work for boxes or other non-round packages. It also requires special vertical shelf spacing and may occupy an objectionable amount of lateral space, and thus this system is complex and is relatively expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,096 discloses a shelf management system having a “pusher” disposed behind the row of products with side members tying the pusher to a pull handle at the front of the shelf and to confine the row of objects laterally in alignment. A rail is disposed at the front of the shelf to prevent objects from falling off the shelf as the pusher is drawn forward by the handle. A resilient member disposed behind the pusher returns it and the handle to normal position after being drawn forward by a pull on the handle. The system does not present a compact shelf management solution and incorporates a significant number of components including a return spring that is subject to fatigue and failure. The accumulated thicknesses of the side members, which stack laterally against one another, consume too much lateral shelf space along an aisle of these systems and selling space is lost. The system is not adjustable to allow product packages of different widths to be accommodated. The system is not bottom-supporting and does not provide for a modular tray apparatus which allows for easy repositioning of an entire product row and therefore does not allow for rapid product re-setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,079,754 discloses a complex arrangement with multiple parts which combines product dispensing with product fronting movement. The side members are arranged in a laterally stacking fashion such that the accumulated thicknesses of the side members combine to consume too much lateral shelf space, wherein selling space on the shelf is thereby lost. Multiple parts of this complex system include a detached “floating” backstop as well as a separate pulling and article receiving component that is manually operated for product movement and dispensing. The system is not bottom-supporting and does not provide a modular tray apparatus that allows for easy repositioning of an entire product row and therefore does not allow for rapid product re-setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,098,844 discloses a shelf management system that forms a product supporting tray within which the product can be advanced. This is a complex, multi-piece system that requires installation of components both on the top and on the underside of the shelf such that most standard store shelves would have to be replaced with custom-designed shelves to accommodate this system. Further, because the frame side members laterally stack against one another, the accumulation of the combined side member thicknesses consumes too much lateral shelf area. Similar to the deficiencies with some systems described above, lateral selling space on the shelf is lost. The system does not provide for a modular tray apparatus which allows for easy repositioning of an entire product row and therefore does not allow for rapid product re-setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,151 and US Published Patent Application Number 2004/0178158 disclose a wire frame shelf management system that provides a manual open bottom shelf management system. The system is designed primarily to fit under the open, concave rounded edges at the base of certain products (e.g. jars of pickles) and fails to provide lateral product support. This lack of lateral support can result in products moving to the left or right or even tipping over during advancement creating significant problems during product movement. In an alternative embodiment wedge-shaped dividers are provided which offer limited lateral support; further, in this alternative embodiment, if the system is filled with products that do not have rounded edges at the base, the wedge-shaped dividers will laterally stack side-to-side causing the accumulated thicknesses of these dividers to consume objectionable lateral selling space. In its preferred embodiment this system fails to provide lateral product support. In a still further embodiment the system employs wedge-shaped dividers that stack side-to-side thereby consuming valuable lateral selling space. The system does not provide for a modular tray apparatus which allows for easy repositioning of an entire product row and therefore does not allow for rapid product re-setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,897 discloses an assembly deployed on a complex multi-piece platform and features a base divided into rows with dividers. For each row there is a manually-operated pusher mechanism in the form of a rectangular wire device with a front handle and a rear portion that is bent upwards to form a back-stop. The sides of the wire device ride in grooves positioned along either side of the base on which the products rest. This system is complex with both plastic and metal parts and would be relatively costly to produce. Neither the divider spacing nor the width of the fronting mechanism is adjustable; therefore this system cannot be adapted in a retail store to accommodate products that differ in width from those for which the system was originally designed.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,702,987; 5,413,229; 6,155,438; 6,227,386; and 6,923,330 disclose a variety of shelf management systems that are representative of the art. None of these systems combine a modular integral tray apparatus that allow for easy repositioning of an entire product row, substantive lateral support of merchandise, dividers that displace minimum lateral shelf space and easily accommodate variable width products.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0258113 discloses, in one embodiment, a puller member where the puller runs along the side of the product row and is attached to a backstop designed to rest behind the rear-most product in the row. In one embodiment the puller and backstop operates within the confines of a sleeve where the sleeve provides product row separation and provides product lateral support. In one embodiment the sleeve is combined with the puller and backstop and is filled with products to form a shelf ready package. In an additional embodiment the puller and backstop operates between two adjustable side dividers where the dividers provide product row separation and product lateral support. None of the embodiments provide for a combination of a modular integral tray apparatus, substantive lateral support of merchandise, dividers that displace minimum lateral shelf space and easily accommodate variable width products. In none of the embodiments is the side divider integrated with the backstop to form an independent fronting mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,015 discloses a system of product containing trays that are of a fixed, pre-determined width. The trays define the product rows and provide product row separation. The trays can be moved forward to facilitate stocking. In several embodiments an integral spring, which adds cost and increases complexity of the system, is attached to the trays and urges them back to the selling position after stocking. A puller member that is attached to a backstop operates within the individual trays. The puller slides underneath the products and therefore itself provides no product row separation and no product lateral support. The puller and backstop are of a fixed width and are not adjustable to accommodate products of different widths.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,621 discloses a system of product row divider panels where a drawbar puller with attached backstop is integral to each divider panel and the drawbar moves in a channel forward and backward along the length of the divider panel. The divider panels are stationary with respect to movement between the front and back of the shelf, although the divider panels can be adjusted laterally to positions relative to adjacent divider panels to fit products of varying widths. The drawbar does not, independent of the divider panel, separate the product rows nor does the drawbar provide lateral support to the products independently of the divider panel. The system operates within a modular frame which obliges the store to adopt the system in increments of more than one product row which reduces its flexibility and requires a time consuming installation process. The system does not provide for a modular tray apparatus that allows for easy repositioning of an entire product row and therefore does not allow for rapid product re-setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,938 discloses a system of divider panels that slide along a rail affixed to the front shelf edge to accommodate varying width products. In one embodiment, a spring-biased pusher moves along the side divider to urge the displayed products forward. The system does not provide for a modular tray apparatus that allows for easy repositioning of an entire product row and therefore does not allow for rapid product re-setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,631,771 discloses a width-adjustable modular tray apparatus with a fronting device integrated into one of two opposing side dividers. The device employs two opposing side dividers, and these dividers stack laterally side-to-side when the tray modules are deployed in a series, and this design consumes more lateral shelf space than does a design where only a single divider is positioned between product rows. This system does not provide for a primary side divider to simultaneously function as a divider and fronting device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,248 discloses in one embodiment a platform upon which multiple rows of products might be positioned and further discloses side dividers that partition the rows of products. None of the embodiments provide for a combination of a modular integral tray apparatus that allows for easy repositioning of an entire single product row, substantive lateral support of merchandise, dividers that displace minimum lateral shelf space and easy width adjustability. In none of the embodiments is the side divider integrated with the backstop to form an independent fronting mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,792,711 discloses an apparatus for electronically tracking the position of products on a retail shelf for the purpose of assisting with product ordering and alerting the store to possible theft. In the preferred embodiments, the fronting mechanism that is integrated with the electronic tracking device is a spring-biased pusher and is not manually operated. No modular tray device that allows for easy repositioning of an entire single product row is contemplated.
The above identified patents and patent publications are representative of the art and these references are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. It is the object of the present invention to address the deficiencies of the prior art shelf management systems and provide a highly effective, very low-cost, easy to install and easy to use shelf management system.